


Ludus

by TrackerKitsune



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Bad Ending, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Horror, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Gen, Ludus - Freeform, Mention of - Freeform, WoL turning into Lightwarden, backstory for lightwarden OC, drabble I guess??, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23838781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrackerKitsune/pseuds/TrackerKitsune
Summary: A Bad Ending to the fight on Mt Gulg for a miqo'te warrior of light, taken over by the everlasting light of the First.
Kudos: 9





	Ludus

**Author's Note:**

> Conceptual backstory for my OC Lightwarden, Ludus, who is still being worked on. Short and deliberately disjointed.

Fighting the light within his own body is a maddening, constant battle that drives him to an edge of his endurance he has never been at before. It surges in the midst of battle and he pushes it down with the Song and his own aether. It tugs on his consciousness when he sleeps, fights him when he wakes, drowns him when he feels anything. The dragoon is trapped in his own body and fighting against it at the same time; Nidhogg’s call can barely hold a flicker to the searing of his chest every time he breathes, the constant urge to retch and choke on the white that feels like it’s filling his stomach and lungs.

It exhausts him more than anything he’s experienced. More than his duty to his family. More than dragging himself step by step through the dusty wilds of Gyr Abania to find a new home - he forces the memory of heat and hunger and thirst down, before it can turn that against him as well.

Gearing up to fight Vauthry is an exercise in pacing himself; he can wholly understand the Exarch’s similar exhaustion when they sit together on the cliff. He resists the sudden urge to throw himself from it, to end it himself before he turns and loses himself. The climb up Mt Gulg is treacherous and he nearly falls over his own tail by the time they reach the top, needing to brace himself for a moment before they face the bloated-

_(Prey)_

-mockery of a human that is this Sin Eater. The creature’s transformation-

_(Ascension, acceptance)_

-pulls at the light trapped inside him, makes it pulse and writhe and fight him the entire time he’s battling Innocence. The air should be cold at this altitude, should make his fur fluff up to try and warm himself.

He feels like he’s on fire.

The fight is over but the light surges once more, streams from his face as he can’t hold it back any longer. His Song swells up in a desperate attempt to push the corruption back again.

It’s overwhelmed. Turned against him like his own body.

He chokes-

Fights- 

Drops like a stone to the floor and screams at the Scions to run. Ryne rushes to his side regardless-

_Hatchling. Oracle._

The words curl through his mind as surely as the light flows through his veins and scales creep over his skin. His mind is slipping-

Drowning-

And he is gone.

The Exarch arrives too late, seeing feathered wings rip from his warping armour; six, like Hraesvelgr’s, white feathers shot through with gold on the pinions. They cocoon the new lighwarden, hiding the rest of his transformation from the Scions as the mysterious man shouts in denial and alarm and shepherds them back down the steps.

“My hatchlings…” Comes a murmur from the cocoon and his new wings snap open, knocking everyone over as the dragoon slams into the ground, opening yellow-gold eyes and smiling sickly sweet at them. “Where are you...?”


End file.
